The Glass Ceiling

"ABC News reports that when Rometty takes office in the start of the New Year the number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies will reach a record at 18. This buzzing news poses a controversial question for Industrial/Organizational Psychologists - Has the glass ceiling been shattered?... Or just cracked?"

Really?

Just because one person got past the glass ceiling (or out of the labyrinth, if you prefer -- and I actually do think that's more accurate), that doesn't mean the ceiling isn't there anymore. We're talking 18 people out of 500.  We can talk about a crack when there are 200 women leading Fortune 500 companies.  This is hardly representative of our work force, let alone our population (and customer base).

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Update: May 18, 2020

“Mary Barra, Sonia Syngal, and more are among the 37 women to run Fortune 500 businesses.”

So, in eight years, we were able to double the number of women in leadership positions at these major corporations…  That’s a start, I guess.  At this exponential rate, it’ll only take us about 20 years to reach parity.  (I’m being ironic.  That’s much too slow!)

Look around at your company’s leadership?  Are they representative of your workers?  Of your customers?  What can you do to make your leadership (and potentially your employee) makeup more closely reflect that of your workers (and your customers)?

Where can you recruit?  Who can you mentor?  How can you provide opportunities for growth and leadership of – or at least input from – underrepresented populations?